Sept. 26, 2023

The Musical Journey of Guitarist Gaurav Bali

The Musical Journey of Guitarist Gaurav Bali
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Season 3

Love, sacrifice, support and commitment define the career journey of guitarist Gaurav Bali who has opened for big names, had a top 15 hit and spent decades on the road before pivoting towards a second career as a teacher. Gaurav shares an inside look at the life of a musician on this episode of No Wrong Choices.    

Born of immigrants, Gaurav defied “traditional” expectations by pursuing a creative path. His parents’ support of his musical career was undoubtedly motivated by his grandfather’s story; he was a master sitarist and early mentor of the legend Ravi Shankar whose musical journey was cut short. The result has been a 30-year career that has seen Gaurav travel from rock to country, New York to Nashville and The Beacon to Grand Ole Opry.  Gaurav even shared a meal with his late idol Eddie Van Halen (the cuisine will shock you). Today, Gaurav is a dedicated teacher in the process of scaling his School Of Rock.   

Explore how to build a life in music during this episode of No Wrong Choices 


To discover more episodes or connect with us:


Chapters

00:02 - Unconventional Careers in the Music Industry

07:13 - Family Support and Childhood Sparks

17:21 - Discovering Passion and Influences in Music

27:30 - Finding Success in Music and Moving On

32:21 - Surreal Moments With Van Halen

43:53 - Fusion of Genres in Modern Music

53:17 - Life as a Musician

01:02:29 - An Inspiring Conversation With Gaurav Bali

01:09:10 - No Wrong Choices Podcast Community

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:02.706 --> 00:00:11.269
Hello and welcome to no Wrong Choices, a podcast about the adventures of life that explores the career journeys of inspiring and interesting people.

00:00:11.269 --> 00:00:16.190
I'm Larry Samuels, soon to be joined by the other fellas, tushar Saxena and Larry Shad.

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For those who might be joining us for the first time, and for anyone else who hasn't done this yet, please support us by following no Wrong Choices on your podcasting platform of choice and by giving us a five star rating.

00:00:27.809 --> 00:00:38.011
We also ask that you join our community by following along on LinkedIn, facebook, instagram Threads and now X, by searching for the no Wrong Choices podcast.

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You can also connect with us at NoWrongChoicescom.

00:00:41.348 --> 00:00:46.731
This episode features the professional guitarist and teacher, gaurav Bali.

00:00:46.731 --> 00:01:00.479
Gaurav is a very interesting guy who's made a career in the music industry, and Tushar has a long history with Gaurav, so you are, tushar, once again, the perfect person to set up this conversation.

00:01:00.680 --> 00:01:03.048
Yeah, so full disclosure, I grew up with Gaurav.

00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:11.347
Our families have known each other forever and, yeah, I've known Gaurav since he pretty much picked up the guitar and started playing back in the day.

00:01:12.659 --> 00:01:16.811
You know, it's odd too, because he and I have a very similar background.

00:01:16.811 --> 00:01:23.927
Not that I'm a musician by any stretch, not like him but the idea that we went into non-traditional careers for immigrant kids.

00:01:23.927 --> 00:02:04.730
Like a lot of immigrant families, you'll see that when they want their kids to go on to careers where they make a lot of money, not where they basically starve and live at home, which is what the two of us did when we were growing up, trust me, it'll be interesting to hear you know what is it like to be, not only to have an unconventional career that's outside of the norm to begin with, but one where you grow up in an immigrant household, where sometimes that type of a career is looked down upon, where it's not traditional, but two, how you make it work in such an atmosphere where success is extremely, extremely rare, extremely rare and you really have to put in your time and pay your dues to make that work.

00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:06.802
Yeah, that's perfectly said, T.

00:02:06.802 --> 00:02:08.769
I mean this is a tough, tough path.

00:02:08.769 --> 00:02:10.384
I'm a musician.

00:02:10.384 --> 00:02:23.450
I played drums for about 25, 30 years, Not that I ever had aspirations of being a professional player, but I know the dedication and perseverance that it takes to make any kind of headway in this industry and it's a challenge.

00:02:23.450 --> 00:02:31.407
You know you have to constant hours of practice and shredding and learning and growing and finding your sound.

00:02:31.407 --> 00:02:34.449
I mean, that is all while you're trying to put food on the table.

00:02:34.449 --> 00:02:35.921
I mean, let's be real, you know.

00:02:35.921 --> 00:02:36.764
So this is.

00:02:36.764 --> 00:02:41.913
An artist's life is never, usually an easy one.

00:02:41.913 --> 00:02:44.085
Some people get lucky and it is.

00:02:44.085 --> 00:02:53.706
But I'm excited to hear what his story is, because usually an artist's life is about piecing together a lot of things in your life to make it work so that you can become successful.

00:02:53.706 --> 00:03:03.689
But ultimately I'm imagining this is about him being a great player and being a great guy to work with, because that's what we seem to find is these successful people.

00:03:03.689 --> 00:03:05.443
Those are the common traits.

00:03:05.704 --> 00:03:06.326
Absolutely.

00:03:06.326 --> 00:03:26.104
And for me as a business person, as somebody who has an entrepreneurial spirit, knowing that he is gradually pivoting towards a school, a school of rock, so to speak, it's going to be fascinating to learn about how he is expanding that, how he is growing that, how he's setting it up.

00:03:26.104 --> 00:03:29.288
So with that, here is Gaurav Bali.

00:03:29.288 --> 00:03:40.352
Now, joining no wrong choices is the guitarist, songwriter and educator who was recently referred to as a rising star by the Nashville Voyager, gaurav Bali.

00:03:40.352 --> 00:03:42.064
Gaurav, thank you so much for joining us.

00:03:42.064 --> 00:03:42.747
How?

00:03:42.768 --> 00:03:43.449
are you doing, guys?

00:03:43.449 --> 00:03:44.161
Thanks for having me.

00:03:44.943 --> 00:03:53.066
Very, very well, thank you, and I think, before we get too far into the conversation, we like to let our guests set things up for us.

00:03:53.066 --> 00:03:59.413
So, gaurav, in your own words, can you tell us who you are and what you do?

00:04:00.100 --> 00:04:00.683
Sure, sure.

00:04:00.683 --> 00:04:02.225
So my name is Gaurav Bali.

00:04:02.225 --> 00:04:11.366
I'm a guitarist and guitar teacher from the Northeast, from the New Jersey area, where Mr Tushar is from as well.

00:04:11.366 --> 00:04:25.052
We've known each other a very long time and, yeah, I've been playing since I was about 10 years old and that culminated in me starting to actually teach for my teacher in New Jersey when I was about 18.

00:04:25.052 --> 00:04:28.869
So I've been doing that 30 years, which I can't believe I'm saying that, but it's true.

00:04:28.869 --> 00:04:50.639
And then for 15 years I was in an original rock band from New York which had a few record deals and made a bunch of albums, got to do some cool touring, meet some cool people, play some cool venues and live out a few of the things that we saw on MTV growing up in the 1980s and 90s.

00:04:50.839 --> 00:04:56.156
And then I left that project in, I think, fall of 2014.

00:04:56.156 --> 00:05:26.411
And then I actually ended up moving to Nashville for about seven years where I played with a few country artists at a great event band and started teaching again and basically decided that the second half of my life if you will, of the musical portion was going to be probably less traveling and performing and more just concentrating on teaching and the goal of opening a school and even doing some guitar courses and things like that.

00:05:26.411 --> 00:05:36.350
So basically, I've been back home here in the Northeast since last November and I've just been focused 100% on teaching.

00:05:36.350 --> 00:05:50.605
So I've got about 27 students that I do online and I'm just kind of planning the next step, which is what you do these days YouTube channel and courses and hopefully opening a school and all that kind of stuff.

00:05:50.605 --> 00:05:54.826
So that's basically from a quick from age 10 to today.

00:05:55.607 --> 00:05:56.007
And that's it.

00:05:56.007 --> 00:05:57.088
So last class we're done.

00:05:58.329 --> 00:06:00.333
Have a good day, thank you Goodbye.

00:06:00.353 --> 00:06:01.053
Cool, I got a student.

00:06:02.699 --> 00:06:07.091
So, gaurav, I mean, obviously we are the children of immigrants, you and I.

00:06:07.091 --> 00:06:13.932
So typically our parents did not want us to go into the way of, let's say, entertainment.

00:06:13.932 --> 00:06:15.625
So you're a musician.

00:06:15.625 --> 00:06:23.329
I went into the realm of sports media and then into news media, so we have not gone the traditional routes right.

00:06:23.329 --> 00:06:37.591
So, for those of you out there, most immigrant parents who come to America want their kids to go, let's say, into the big four careers they want them to go into, let's say, law, medicine, business, and then let's say, engineering.

00:06:37.591 --> 00:06:42.271
So, gaurav, my first question to you is how did your parents let you get away with this?

00:06:44.464 --> 00:06:45.427
Well who says, they have Right.

00:06:47.161 --> 00:06:47.603
No, no.

00:06:47.603 --> 00:06:54.324
Well, my dad's side of the family is very musical, my grandfather actually.

00:06:54.324 --> 00:07:01.271
A lot of people don't believe it would be when I tell them this, but my granddad was actually a musician, played sitar.

00:07:01.271 --> 00:07:07.403
He conducted the orchestra on the radio in India A while back.

00:07:07.403 --> 00:07:12.112
I had pictures of him doing it here that I haven't framed and all that stuff.

00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:33.863
So I think my dad in particular saw that his dad had to sort of give up on that to do the like, to show what you were saying get married, have kids, the whole thing and he saw that he didn't get to do what he wanted and I think that a lot of people don't know probably had to do with why my dad has been really supportive, my mom also, of course.

00:07:33.863 --> 00:07:40.692
So the direct answer to your question is of course, in the beginning they were encouraging it as a hobby.

00:07:40.692 --> 00:07:48.966
They weren't thrilled in the beginning when I said this is just what I want to try to do with my life, because of course it's so difficult and, like you said, you and I are over everything.

00:07:48.966 --> 00:07:57.644
As far as the immigrant plan, I literally have a hat that says Black Sheep that I grab all the time, or Brown Sheep, if you will, for us.

00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:20.723
But I think that once they saw how serious I was and I guess to a certain extent they saw that I was possibly good enough to actually do it for a career after a certain point and I think that's when, especially, my dad made a decision of OK, I can either hinder this or I can support it, I can help it.

00:08:20.723 --> 00:08:25.973
So, luckily for me, he decided that he was actually going to be super, super supportive.

00:08:25.973 --> 00:08:35.566
I don't know if you remember, Tushar, in the house that my parents had previous to the apartment that they're in now, my dad actually took my college money and built me a recording studio.

00:08:35.586 --> 00:08:36.427
I do remember this.

00:08:36.668 --> 00:08:37.770
Yes, wow.

00:08:37.770 --> 00:08:41.870
So I had a little project studio and it was like a real studio.

00:08:41.870 --> 00:08:48.250
I wasn't just like, oh, it's a basement, and I bought him a four track recorder and a microphone.

00:08:48.250 --> 00:09:04.708
Literally, these father and son contractors came into our basement and built a shell within the basement, acoustically designed, with raised floors for wiring, separate control room and studio, with the window and the whole thing.

00:09:04.708 --> 00:09:07.365
It was like a real little baby studio that.

00:09:07.365 --> 00:09:10.793
Actually that's how I learned how to record, how to write.

00:09:11.822 --> 00:09:14.230
You know the band that I mentioned.

00:09:14.230 --> 00:09:15.274
I was in from New York.

00:09:15.274 --> 00:09:18.466
We actually did all of our writing and demoing for our first album.

00:09:18.466 --> 00:09:20.525
We actually recorded our first album down there.

00:09:20.525 --> 00:09:30.846
Wow, when we got our first record deal, they flew in a producer from England and a local engineer and the engineer brought in all his stuff.

00:09:30.846 --> 00:09:37.153
This is long enough ago when Pro Tools was in its infancy, so this would have been like 2000.

00:09:37.153 --> 00:09:43.851
He brought this Mondo Pro Tools rig into the basement and we made our first record down there.

00:09:43.851 --> 00:09:57.345
That's how supportive they ended up being, which is crazy because, like you were saying, you would think that, since you and I didn't go into the even close to the big four, I didn't go to college either.

00:09:57.345 --> 00:09:58.642
So forget it.

00:09:58.642 --> 00:10:00.988
The big four for me was I mean, that's not even close.

00:10:00.988 --> 00:10:04.947
I was way, way away from that.

00:10:04.947 --> 00:10:06.505
So, yeah, I lucked out.

00:10:06.505 --> 00:10:08.323
Man, I think I got.

00:10:08.323 --> 00:10:12.143
This is a bold statement, but I'll say it and hopefully they'll hear it when they listen to this.

00:10:12.143 --> 00:10:14.658
I think I got the coolest Indian parents on it.

00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:18.616
You probably did, because I'll be honest with you up until about five years ago.

00:10:18.616 --> 00:10:21.326
I'm still going to law school, apparently to my mother.

00:10:22.481 --> 00:10:25.863
I'm supposed to be going to law school, so when are you going to get to the?

00:10:25.903 --> 00:10:26.384
job.

00:10:26.384 --> 00:10:27.067
I know exactly.

00:10:27.067 --> 00:10:28.390
I'm not going to get a real job.

00:10:28.390 --> 00:10:29.586
I should see, if you can.

00:10:29.586 --> 00:10:31.717
Up until five years ago, I was still going.

00:10:31.717 --> 00:10:34.947
I was still on my plan to go to law school, yeah, yeah.

00:10:35.086 --> 00:10:36.169
No, I believe it, man.

00:10:36.169 --> 00:10:48.629
I mean it's very rare to have immigrant parents, especially Indian parents, because it's kind of like the whole reason they moved here was so that we could go to school, go to college here and get quote unquote real jobs and be professionals.

00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:55.850
I do consider myself to be a professional, I just don't wear a stethoscope or go to court Makes sense.

00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:10.606
The support like that is so important when you're talking about something like this artistic, and I can really appreciate that, maybe even being unusual for culturally, that you would be supported like that by your family.

00:11:10.606 --> 00:11:13.869
But what was the thing when you were younger?

00:11:13.869 --> 00:11:14.642
You started playing.

00:11:14.642 --> 00:11:16.240
When you were 10, you said so.

00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.931
There had to be a moment, a spark, a something that happened prior to that.

00:11:19.931 --> 00:11:21.044
Did you see someone play?

00:11:21.044 --> 00:11:22.043
Did you hear a song?

00:11:22.043 --> 00:11:29.744
Give me back to that childhood spark when you actually said, hey, I need to play guitar, I need to play music.

00:11:29.744 --> 00:11:30.785
This is going to be my life.

00:11:32.599 --> 00:11:35.208
Right, there's actually a few key moments.

00:11:35.208 --> 00:11:49.811
I think probably the first one and, don't worry, I'll console, consolidate it Basically and to show you probably remember this you know all of you guys, early 80s, the era of sitting around with your cousins or your friends with the radio on.

00:11:49.811 --> 00:11:52.866
They've got their own boombox and you're making mixtapes.

00:11:52.966 --> 00:11:53.830
Oh, my God yeah.

00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:00.085
Songs come on the radio and the first 20 seconds of the songs are cut off as you're trying to press, play and record together.

00:12:00.085 --> 00:12:07.552
So doing that was kind of first exposure to you know kind of pop music and Western music.

00:12:07.552 --> 00:12:19.442
My friend had come over also at the same, around the same time maybe even a little earlier, if you could believe this my six year old friend had come over with the first Ozzy Oz Born Solo album.

00:12:19.442 --> 00:12:23.489
Wow, played it for me and that was the first electric guitar I heard.

00:12:23.489 --> 00:12:27.206
I don't even think I knew what it was at first, it was just the sound that sounded amazing to me.

00:12:27.206 --> 00:12:36.965
And then flash forward to what I was talking about, hanging out with my cousins making mixtapes and then one of my aunts had cable, so that's where MTV came in.

00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:51.311
So I would say probably like 1984, when Jump by Van Halen was huge, watching that video and you know there's this guy who I didn't know at the time was going to be my hero, eddie Van Halen.

00:12:51.311 --> 00:13:00.509
You know there's this guy up there and he's wearing, you know, a tiger stretch jacket and leopard skin pants and he's smiling from ear to ear.

00:13:00.509 --> 00:13:02.346
He's playing this crazy red and white guitar.

00:13:02.346 --> 00:13:07.250
It just looked like fun and it just looked like he was having a blast.

00:13:07.250 --> 00:13:10.187
So that's kind of when I was like, okay, I'm going to play a guitar.

00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:12.986
That's where the lessons kind of started at 10.

00:13:12.986 --> 00:13:14.162
And then I did.

00:13:14.162 --> 00:13:22.703
To be honest, because of the teaching techniques of back then, I did end up actually getting bored and quitting for about a year.

00:13:22.703 --> 00:13:34.652
And then my 12th birthday came and my cousin and her brother who too sure you know you mentioned before who you guys went to high school together in the same high school.

00:13:34.652 --> 00:13:38.066
He is actually six years older than me, so he was.

00:13:38.066 --> 00:13:44.798
I don't have any brothers or sisters, but he was like the older sibling that kind of introduced me to all this stuff.

00:13:44.798 --> 00:13:47.928
So on my 12th birthday he had his license.

00:13:47.928 --> 00:13:53.759
Already David Lee Roth had recently left Van Halen and was on his first solo tour.

00:13:53.759 --> 00:14:06.211
So he and his sister took me to my first concert on my 12th birthday at the Metalands, which was the David Lee Roth solo tour, and he had a guitar player named Steve.

00:14:06.250 --> 00:14:11.028
Vai playing with him, and he was an unknown at the time.

00:14:11.028 --> 00:14:15.054
Just this you know, this 26 year old kid from Long Island.

00:14:15.054 --> 00:14:22.777
He'd been in Frank's app, his band, for a little bit and he got the most coveted guitar gig on the planet playing with David Lee Roth after he left Van Halen.

00:14:22.777 --> 00:14:37.557
So that is what I always consider to be the moment that you know, quote unquote ruined my life, because, you know, I'm 12 years old and I'm at this concert and it was just sensory overload.

00:14:37.557 --> 00:14:53.524
You know the lights and the sound and Steve Vai is running around the stage playing guitar and people are chanting his name and he's talking with the guitar and the whole thing, and I think that if I had to bring that to one moment, that was like the okay, you know, this is, this looks fun.

00:14:53.524 --> 00:14:55.048
I think this is what it's.

00:14:55.048 --> 00:14:56.975
You know, I think this is what it's going to be.

00:14:57.725 --> 00:14:59.691
So what action did that lead to?

00:14:59.691 --> 00:14:59.932
Like?

00:14:59.932 --> 00:15:01.115
What was that next step?

00:15:02.306 --> 00:15:06.470
Well, at that time I had, like I said, I had actually quit guitar for a couple of years.

00:15:06.470 --> 00:15:18.187
You know and this ties in now to my current story of you know, all the stuff that that guy kind of did for the first year when I was like 10 to 11, is the exact things that I do not do now, like it literally.

00:15:18.187 --> 00:15:26.548
I didn't know this at the time, but it was actually shaping my future in a way, because now I have like this kind of checklist of like, well, you're not doing what that guy did, are you Okay?

00:15:26.548 --> 00:15:27.150
Good, we're good.

00:15:27.150 --> 00:15:30.465
So the next action really was to start playing again.

00:15:30.465 --> 00:15:35.524
So that night, you know, on my 12th birthday, it was like, okay, fine, this teacher wasn't cool, but I've got to do this.

00:15:35.524 --> 00:15:38.524
So I started playing again by myself.

00:15:39.589 --> 00:15:44.524
And then, throughout the course of the next couple of years, I was just sort of, you know, learning.

00:15:44.524 --> 00:15:48.894
There was a lot of new resources for guitar players coming out.

00:15:48.894 --> 00:15:51.379
Then you know a lot of song books and things like that.

00:15:51.379 --> 00:15:53.870
A lot of the big guitar players started.

00:15:53.870 --> 00:15:58.519
That's when they started doing their instructional videos, which, of course, in those days were VHS, if you remember.

00:15:58.519 --> 00:16:05.076
And then, when I was 15, I kind of decided like, okay, I need, there's some things that I'm not getting.

00:16:05.076 --> 00:16:06.219
I want to go to the next level.

00:16:06.219 --> 00:16:07.846
I need lessons.

00:16:07.846 --> 00:16:29.524
So I ended up finding a great teacher in New Jersey and he's the one who actually taught me basically all of the theory and technique and all that kind of stuff that you know and that I ended up retaining for all these years and what I'm actually passing on to my students for the last couple of decades, along with, obviously, adding my own stuff.

00:16:29.524 --> 00:16:31.370
So yeah.

00:16:31.549 --> 00:16:37.524
I mean, I just decided I need to play, took lessons and then the next thing you know, the next step to being a rock star is looking for a band.

00:16:37.524 --> 00:16:40.524
So that's what I started doing right after high school.

00:16:41.366 --> 00:16:44.495
Before we jump to the band, and I can't wait to hear that.

00:16:44.495 --> 00:16:45.379
I'm just curious.

00:16:45.379 --> 00:16:47.524
You mentioned this great teacher in New Jersey.

00:16:47.524 --> 00:16:50.011
Who was the teacher?

00:16:50.011 --> 00:16:51.115
Is it a no name?

00:16:52.386 --> 00:16:53.528
In some circles he is.

00:16:53.528 --> 00:16:55.331
His name is Ed Furman.

00:16:55.331 --> 00:16:58.076
He's in New Milford, New Jersey, or he was at the time.

00:16:58.076 --> 00:17:01.607
I think he's in Dumont now and he was.

00:17:01.607 --> 00:17:04.432
He's only seven years older than me, I think.

00:17:04.432 --> 00:17:10.160
So thinking back about it now when we met is kind of insane, because I was 15 and he was 22.

00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:16.748
And but again, when you're 15, even someone in their 20s just seems like there's so much right there, I mean guys you're both kids.

00:17:18.132 --> 00:17:19.455
Yeah, he's almost 60.

00:17:20.165 --> 00:17:21.127
Yeah, yeah.

00:17:21.127 --> 00:17:35.136
So he was in a prominent heavy metal band from the area that had gotten some national recognition that's, in touring, you know, in Europe and things like that for some of the bigger bands, and he was just a great teacher, great guy, great player.

00:17:35.136 --> 00:17:46.900
And you know, he just had a very different style at the time, which was basically doing the opposite of what the original teacher that I told you about when I was 10 did.

00:17:46.900 --> 00:17:50.811
So like no music, books, kind of all memorizing stuff.

00:17:50.811 --> 00:17:55.727
He actually asked me what I liked, what I wanted to learn, which, again, I carried with me.

00:17:55.787 --> 00:18:00.256
That's the first thing I do with any potential student hey, what artists are you into, what kind of music are you into?

00:18:00.256 --> 00:18:00.857
That kind of thing.

00:18:00.857 --> 00:18:06.477
So he just taught me a lot of stuff that I've, like I said, I've retained throughout the years that I use.

00:18:06.477 --> 00:18:12.525
And that's what took me to the next level of kind of saying like, okay, you know, I want to do this as a career.

00:18:12.525 --> 00:18:23.657
And then, of course, the next super pivotal moment was when I was, I think, right after I graduated or right before I graduated high school.

00:18:23.657 --> 00:18:39.135
He had an overflow of students and he said, hey, would you be interested in teaching the beginners and I was like I think 18 at the time, and I was like, really, and he said yeah, you could do it and I was like, oh okay, I never thought about it.

00:18:39.605 --> 00:18:47.614
So he's actually the one who had the confidence in me to get me started on that, and the literally within a week of doing it.

00:18:47.614 --> 00:18:52.484
Of course, the first couple of times I was nervous, you know, and I was stammering and I was like, oh I'm, you know, I was 18.

00:18:52.484 --> 00:18:53.487
I was just a little kid.

00:18:53.487 --> 00:19:07.535
And within a week I fell in love with it and I was like you know what, no matter what happens as far as, like a career in a band or whatever else I do, this is something that is.

00:19:07.535 --> 00:19:09.896
It's a feeling that you can describe.

00:19:09.896 --> 00:19:23.213
When someone wants to play a song that they like, or a part of the song or something, you show them how to play it and then they practice it and then next thing, they know they're playing it and just the look of utter joy on their face.

00:19:23.213 --> 00:19:25.816
You know, I know it sounds kind of corny, but it's true.

00:19:25.816 --> 00:19:30.039
You know, to give someone that kind of happiness.

00:19:30.260 --> 00:19:31.060
Yeah, that's a gift.

00:19:31.525 --> 00:19:34.452
You know, for someone to go hey, I want to play this song, and now they can play it Absolutely.

00:19:34.452 --> 00:19:36.006
So I knew, I knew.

00:19:36.006 --> 00:19:42.938
Right then I can't believe I'm saying this, but yeah, I knew pretty much 30 years ago that you know that was going to be part of my life for us.

00:19:43.565 --> 00:19:45.807
And I'm going to pause right there because this is an important time in your life.

00:19:45.807 --> 00:19:48.010
You said like from the ages of 15 to 18.

00:19:48.010 --> 00:19:51.316
This is this is all happening when you kind of rediscover lessons.

00:19:51.316 --> 00:19:53.598
You know you need to take that next step and go further with it.

00:19:53.598 --> 00:20:06.759
I guess my question is this is where you're finding your sound as a player, as an and as an artist, right, and you're doing your shredding and your, you know, minding your Ps and Qs with your theory and all that stuff.

00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:12.875
So how many hours a day are you practicing at this point to get to that level from the ages of, let's say, 15 to 18?

00:20:15.644 --> 00:20:16.468
More than my parents.

00:20:16.468 --> 00:20:22.892
Let's, let's, let's say enough to not get my home.

00:20:22.932 --> 00:20:24.214
That's fair, probably.

00:20:24.214 --> 00:20:38.448
Yeah, I mean as soon as, like I said, as soon as I started going to Ed, he just opened up a whole new world of technique and theory and just all of a sudden I was starting to realize, in all the things he was showing me, I was like, oh, wait a second.

00:20:38.448 --> 00:20:42.593
That sounds like that solo from that song by Metallica that I love, you know.

00:20:42.593 --> 00:20:50.320
And then I just got super, super inspired to, you know, just kind of probably go a little bit overboard with it, but you know, maybe not.

00:20:50.320 --> 00:20:53.093
I think you know what's the, what's the rule?

00:20:53.093 --> 00:20:53.816
The 10,000 hours.

00:20:53.836 --> 00:20:56.525
Yeah, exactly, you're looking for yourself as an artist.

00:20:56.525 --> 00:20:58.471
I mean, you have to, you have to put in the song.

00:20:59.865 --> 00:21:00.548
Yeah, yeah.

00:21:00.548 --> 00:21:06.484
So I would say I started going to him probably when I was a sophomore in high school.

00:21:06.484 --> 00:21:12.518
So I think those first couple of years I must have been doing at least two hours every day, if not more.

00:21:12.518 --> 00:21:28.012
And then, my senior year of high school, I did a work study so that enabled me to go to school in the morning and then I did a half day and at first I worked somewhere else and then they let me do the teaching thing for Ed and the.

00:21:28.012 --> 00:21:33.680
My high school to their credit actually, I believe did give me credit for those hours, for the work study so I could graduate.

00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:49.077
So I mean by my senior year I mean I was teaching and practicing, so I'm sure I was playing probably four hours a day, easy, you know, between the theory and the technique and then trying to learn songs and parts of songs and all that.

00:21:49.825 --> 00:21:50.626
Did you ever?

00:21:50.626 --> 00:21:53.250
I mean, obviously you come from a musical background.

00:21:53.250 --> 00:21:58.019
You talked about a moment ago that your grandfather, your grandfather's musical past.

00:21:58.019 --> 00:22:05.555
So did you ever at any point say to yourself not only do I want to play, did you channel some of that, some of that?

00:22:05.555 --> 00:22:09.279
You know, your musical, your musical bloodlines, in that sense?

00:22:09.946 --> 00:22:11.512
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I would hope so.

00:22:11.512 --> 00:22:32.480
Unfortunately, the one kind of tragedy that came out of it was he passed away super young, so I actually never got a chance to meet him, which you know, which would have been amazing to you know, even as a little kid, to be able to go to India and visit and talk to him and things like that.

00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:40.058
But you know my grandmother, always she lived with us during my high school years, funny enough, when I was doing all this woodshed.

00:22:40.058 --> 00:22:54.525
So you know she, actually you know the one who was in the bedroom next door that you know poor lady had to listen to me practice, but you know what she was totally into it.

00:22:54.525 --> 00:23:01.525
And when I was going through that thing of you know, inevitably not only do you want to sound like your heroes, but you want to look like them.

00:23:02.126 --> 00:23:07.501
So when the long hair came in and the hey, I want to get, you know, an earring and I want to get a nose ring and all that.

00:23:07.501 --> 00:23:12.994
She was actually the one, you know, when my dad was against it, believe it or not, she actually was, like you know what.

00:23:12.994 --> 00:23:14.999
Just leave him alone, he's an artist.

00:23:15.525 --> 00:23:18.525
I was going to say man you know, your parents let you go all the way and do that.

00:23:18.525 --> 00:23:20.029
That is amazing.

00:23:21.615 --> 00:23:29.184
Yeah, which is, like I said, it's comical in a way, because my dad, you know, he was against it at first, Like your hair's getting a little too long and you know you're definitely not getting a hearing.

00:23:29.184 --> 00:23:33.657
And then, basically, you know, when his mom was like, all right, chill out, he was like, okay, you know.

00:23:33.657 --> 00:23:34.539
So it was.

00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:43.547
it was funny because my dad, you know, with his, with his mom in the house you know, luckily, you know, listen to her and just kind of chill out and let me do it.

00:23:43.547 --> 00:23:56.163
And in fact another quick story is that my junior year of high school, the summer between my junior and senior year, I was thinking of going to this music school in Hollywood after I graduated and they had a summer program.

00:23:56.163 --> 00:24:02.364
So I signed up for the summer program in the summer of 91, when I was 16, in Hollywood.

00:24:02.364 --> 00:24:04.471
So obviously my mom is mortified.

00:24:04.791 --> 00:24:05.555
She's like you're not going to.

00:24:05.555 --> 00:24:07.288
Hollywood and you're 16.

00:24:07.377 --> 00:24:09.933
And my dad was like, don't worry about it, he'll be fine.

00:24:09.933 --> 00:24:19.739
So, if you can believe this or not, I actually signed up for this summer session in Hollywood, my two roommates we were going to live in an apartment, my two roommates.

00:24:19.739 --> 00:24:30.381
We met them beforehand and then, literally June of 91, my parents, we flew to LA, they dropped me off at this apartment in Hollywood and my dad was like, all right, we'll see you in a few weeks.

00:24:30.381 --> 00:24:38.612
And I mean, like I said, my mom was, was mortified, but my dad is just a super positive and just strong, like fearless person.

00:24:38.612 --> 00:24:44.758
So he kind of, you know, he kind of encouraged me to that, you know, in that way, and he was like, yeah, you'll be fine, you know.

00:24:44.758 --> 00:24:46.665
So that's if you can believe that.

00:24:46.665 --> 00:24:50.098
My Indian parents dropped me off in Hollywood when I was 16.

00:24:50.118 --> 00:24:57.824
That's incredible and you know I was going to jump forward from there to ask about your first band and how you got into it.

00:24:57.824 --> 00:25:01.218
But but now I have to ask you know what happened in Hollywood.

00:25:01.218 --> 00:25:03.510
Are there any highlights or key takeaways from that experience?

00:25:03.571 --> 00:25:08.625
Stuff that you want to tell people that your parents may hear.

00:25:10.147 --> 00:25:12.071
No, you know, I was only 16.

00:25:12.071 --> 00:25:16.847
I was super naive and, you know, sheltered, you know as we were, you know, at that age.

00:25:16.847 --> 00:25:19.678
But no, definitely a lot of growing experiences.

00:25:19.678 --> 00:25:28.772
You know, the first time I was ever away from home for that amount of time, I was living with one 18 year old roommate, one 21 year old roommate.

00:25:28.772 --> 00:25:30.459
That we obviously ended up becoming good friends.

00:25:30.459 --> 00:25:34.236
They were great dudes, totally looked out for me, you know, because I was the kid.

00:25:34.236 --> 00:25:36.703
But yeah, man, it was cool.

00:25:36.703 --> 00:25:37.707
I mean remember it was the.

00:25:37.807 --> 00:25:40.255
It was the early 90s, so the 80s.

00:25:40.255 --> 00:26:16.087
Hey, dave, the sunset strip in LA was still kind of on its, you know, on its last ledge, but still there, you know, got to go to the troubadour and the rocks oh wow, famous clubs where you know all my heroes had played, you know, went to some great concerts, met up with, you know, at that time that school was super hot, and so I got to meet players from all over the world and along with the musical education, I would say the most important thing that came about was that I actually figured out that I did not want to go to that school after graduation.

00:26:16.087 --> 00:26:19.338
I figured out that LA was actually not for me.

00:26:19.901 --> 00:26:20.402
Interesting.

00:26:20.762 --> 00:26:31.580
And so the main purpose it served was me deciding that I'm going to stay here in the Northeast and I'm just going to teach and I'm going to try to find a band, and you know, do my thing.

00:26:32.262 --> 00:26:36.136
Which sort of you know comes back to the name of our show no Wrong Choices.

00:26:36.136 --> 00:26:47.137
You went out there, you had that experience, so you learned from it and, even though it didn't necessarily lead anywhere, you picked up a really important lesson, which was that was not the place for you.

00:26:47.137 --> 00:26:49.846
So you come back to the Northeast.

00:26:49.846 --> 00:26:57.394
You know, tell us about getting into your first band and what that process was, how you met everybody to take us through that journey.

00:26:58.396 --> 00:27:07.541
Sure, so this would have been the end of 1998, I want to say this was like, again, still the infancy of the internet.

00:27:07.541 --> 00:27:13.744
So if you guys know the famous newspaper, the Village Voice, yeah, of course, we're all New Yorkers.

00:27:13.925 --> 00:27:15.089
Absolutely Exactly.

00:27:15.089 --> 00:27:16.494
So you guys, you guys know the deal.

00:27:16.494 --> 00:27:29.913
So this was right, I think at the very beginning of Village Voice dot com, the first sort of couple of years or so, that you didn't have to do just a print ad, you could do an online ad.

00:27:29.913 --> 00:27:39.646
So I put an ad online, you know, did the, you know the typical thing you hear of everyone in a band you know guitar player with, you know influences, whatever, looking for a band with whatever.

00:27:39.646 --> 00:27:50.615
So you know typical process you hear about with everybody got a lot of calls and then a lot of people, a lot of good people, a lot of bad people, a lot of weird people you know started to lose hope.

00:27:50.615 --> 00:28:10.810
And then one day I got home this was still in the answering machine days had like 40 messages on my machine and I think the very last one was this guy left a message saying hey, you know, I just relocated from Florida with my brother, we have a band already, we're looking for a guitar player and we have a development deal with a songwriter named Desmond Child.

00:28:11.313 --> 00:28:13.438
Oh, oh is that all I immediately knew who that was.

00:28:14.660 --> 00:28:15.602
I said oh, is that all?

00:28:16.904 --> 00:28:17.846
Yeah, yeah.

00:28:17.846 --> 00:28:23.126
So Desmond Child is a songwriter, a literary songwriter that written for.

00:28:23.126 --> 00:28:28.645
You know rock bands, you know everybody from Bon Jovi, kiss, aerosmith, all the big Bon Jovi songs.

00:28:28.645 --> 00:28:31.856
He co-wrote everybody, from Sherry Garth Brooks, you name it.

00:28:31.856 --> 00:28:35.815
So I immediately knew who he was, because that's the kind of music I grew up on.

00:28:35.815 --> 00:28:37.037
So I was like, oh okay.

00:28:37.037 --> 00:28:43.048
So basically they were in Miami and had a different version of their band.

00:28:43.048 --> 00:28:46.520
The singer and the band had interned at Desmond.

00:28:46.520 --> 00:28:50.340
Desmond had just started a production company, so the singer had interned with them.

00:28:51.224 --> 00:28:56.288
Desmond had recommended you guys should go to New York to find a band and, you know, live and get some experiences.

00:28:56.288 --> 00:28:57.863
You have, you know, things to write about.

00:28:57.863 --> 00:29:00.347
How do you, how can you be a songwriter if you have nothing to write about?

00:29:00.347 --> 00:29:01.048
Right?

00:29:01.048 --> 00:29:03.979
So I met them there.

00:29:03.979 --> 00:29:06.065
We, you know, we had similar backgrounds.

00:29:06.065 --> 00:29:07.228
Their dad is a doctor.

00:29:07.228 --> 00:29:09.214
You know my dad's an accountant.

00:29:09.214 --> 00:29:11.315
So we grew up, you know sons of immigrants and all that.

00:29:11.315 --> 00:29:18.501
So we, you know, we clicked right away, started writing songs and boom, you know, the three of us were the, you know, the core of that band.

00:29:18.501 --> 00:29:30.704
That was together for 15 years and then we had a few different bass players throughout the years, but the two brothers and I were the, you know, were the core from 1999 up until 2014.

00:29:30.704 --> 00:29:31.867
And what was the name of this band?

00:29:33.295 --> 00:29:36.362
Eve to Adam and how was your?

00:29:36.362 --> 00:29:37.423
How successful?

00:29:37.423 --> 00:29:38.646
Was your house successful?

00:29:38.646 --> 00:29:39.528
Was he Eve to Adam?

00:29:40.935 --> 00:29:41.056
It's.

00:29:41.056 --> 00:29:42.241
It's all relative, right.

00:29:42.241 --> 00:29:47.124
You know I look at it as there's a there's a huge span of what you consider success.

00:29:47.124 --> 00:29:54.364
You know there's the bands that played bars for 20 years and then the other, echelon, is Metallic Right and there's everything in between.

00:29:54.364 --> 00:29:56.248
So it's all relative.

00:29:56.268 --> 00:30:02.425
I would say we got further than probably most bands do.

00:30:02.425 --> 00:30:04.169
We had a few record deals.

00:30:04.169 --> 00:30:09.805
We made some major label albums, opened up, did a lot of opening tours.

00:30:09.805 --> 00:30:15.468
You know we opened up for Creed, you know, when they did their original reunion tour in 2012,.

00:30:15.468 --> 00:30:17.374
Got to play arenas.

00:30:17.374 --> 00:30:22.124
You know beacon theater, chicago, legendary venues I got to.

00:30:22.124 --> 00:30:24.449
You know, through that I got to meet.

00:30:24.449 --> 00:30:27.800
You know, basically, my hero.

00:30:27.800 --> 00:30:37.128
You know, through them, through a connection, the, I would say, the furthest we got as far as commercial success was in 2014,.

00:30:37.630 --> 00:30:44.411
The last album that I made with them had a single that made it to number 14 on the act of rock charts.

00:30:44.411 --> 00:30:46.537
You know, which is pretty again, relatively good.

00:30:46.537 --> 00:30:49.486
It's again when you.

00:30:49.486 --> 00:30:55.848
You know, having that happen is kind of a kind of a double hit sword, because obviously it's amazing that you got that high.

00:30:55.848 --> 00:31:01.849
But at that point the issue becomes when you get close to the top 10 and any kind of chart like that.

00:31:01.849 --> 00:31:04.377
That's when you're competing with the big boys, right.

00:31:04.377 --> 00:31:13.924
Right, you know, black Sabbath had put out an album that year, alison Chains, just all these, all these iconic heavy rock bands had put out albums.

00:31:13.924 --> 00:31:19.903
So all of a sudden you're competing with them and then that's really when the hard part begins.

00:31:20.345 --> 00:31:27.595
So, you know, we got that song up to number 14, then sort of lost momentum, and then we did another single.

00:31:27.755 --> 00:31:36.299
It didn't do well, and then that's kind of when you know it was clear to me that unfortunately, you know, I gave it a great run, I gave it my all.

00:31:36.299 --> 00:31:42.779
No regrets, no wrong choices, but I think I think that this is the choice.

00:31:42.779 --> 00:31:55.662
This is the time where it's like you know what, I don't, if we, if we get a song up that high and it's almost impossible to get past that when you're competing with the big guys.

00:31:55.662 --> 00:32:01.346
And so that's when it was kind of clear like okay, unfortunately we're just not going to have the momentum.

00:32:01.346 --> 00:32:03.154
You know, the way I look at it is.

00:32:03.154 --> 00:32:19.773
You know there's a speed bump, right, we got to the top of the speed bump and we just couldn't make it over and we kind of rolled back to the other side, and when that became obvious to me, I made the very, very difficult choice of saying you know what I think you know.

00:32:19.773 --> 00:32:21.858
It's time for me to, it's time for me to move on.

00:32:21.878 --> 00:32:31.386
Okay, what was the describe the sound of Eeptadum a little bit the modern term would be active rock, basically song oriented heavy rock.

00:32:31.587 --> 00:32:38.311
You know so, you know just song oriented music with, you know, guitar riff based.

00:32:38.311 --> 00:32:43.443
You know he had a great singer, he was a great melody writer and lyricist as well.

00:32:43.443 --> 00:32:48.471
So, yeah, I mean everything, everything I did with that I'm super, I'm super proud of.

00:32:48.471 --> 00:32:55.030
You know, it was definitely in the vein of, you know, the 80s and 90s music that we, that we all grew up with.

00:32:55.030 --> 00:33:01.778
So a combination of the, you know, guns N' Roses and Van Halen, along with the 90s Stormtuple, pilots and Sound Garden and all that.

00:33:01.778 --> 00:33:06.635
So you know, so I would say, if I had to describe it, melodic, song based heavy rock.

00:33:07.417 --> 00:33:14.519
So you toured with a major rock and roll band, I mean in a time when things were a little kind of kooky and crazy.

00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:22.281
Any backstage hijinks you can possibly share with our audience, or is that for the biography that you're going to write later on?

00:33:23.684 --> 00:33:36.561
I think that's for the behind the scenes, but the one you know, the one story definitely I'll tell which was kind of you know, the I'll tell you the most surreal moment.

00:33:37.022 --> 00:33:39.536
Yeah, sure, Please, If that's a good thing.

00:33:39.536 --> 00:33:59.108
So in 2012, Creed did a reunion tour called the Two Nights Live Tour, where they were going to play every night, every town, two nights obviously that's the name and they were going to do this was in the era where it was like we're going to play our first album top to bottom on the first night and our second album top to bottom on the second night.

00:33:59.108 --> 00:34:00.856
So they were doing that, which is very cool.

00:34:00.856 --> 00:34:04.671
So we were lucky enough to get the opening spot for them.

00:34:04.671 --> 00:34:09.914
So that's where we played the beacon in Chicago theater and it was just like an amazing, you know, theater and arena tour.

00:34:09.914 --> 00:34:26.039
So the guys in Creed, besides the singer, Scott Stapp, the three instrumentalists have a band called Alter Bridge and Wolfgang Van Halen, who is Eddie Van Halen's son, was a big fan of Alter Bridge and had become friends with the Creed guys.

00:34:26.039 --> 00:34:36.072
So that's the backstory to how we ended up in Kansas City on the same night as the 2012 Van Halen tour that was going.

00:34:36.152 --> 00:34:36.532
Oh boy.

00:34:37.114 --> 00:34:41.105
So neither band could go to the other show.

00:34:41.105 --> 00:34:44.434
So Wolfgang said, hey, why don't you guys?

00:34:44.434 --> 00:34:53.648
And when he said you guys, he meant the Creed guys why don't you guys come to soundcheck and we can hang out, and then you guys can go do your show and we're going to do our show.

00:34:53.648 --> 00:34:58.844
So there was one night where the Creed tour was at the theater in Kansas City and the Van Halen tour was at the arena.

00:34:58.844 --> 00:35:11.527
So the rest of us hear about this going on, that the Creed guys are going to the Van Halen soundcheck, you know, and I'm like, oh man, so if you can believe this, it was going to be a laundry day.

00:35:11.527 --> 00:35:18.148
So I was literally in the bowels of this theater in Kansas City folding my underwear.

00:35:18.996 --> 00:35:19.838
Oh, that's very funny.

00:35:20.137 --> 00:35:30.177
When the drummer in my band, alex, runs in and he goes hey man, one of those guys doesn't want to go, if you can believe that one of those guys doesn't want to go to the soundcheck.

00:35:30.177 --> 00:35:38.579
Mark asked if you want it to go and I'm standing there with my underwear in my hand going.

00:35:38.579 --> 00:35:39.682
Was that a real question?

00:35:39.682 --> 00:35:40.344
Yeah, I want to go.

00:35:40.344 --> 00:35:42.851
So I literally have my.

00:35:42.851 --> 00:35:48.184
I haven't even done my laundry yet, so I literally had my dirty pocho drawers in my hand.

00:35:48.184 --> 00:35:59.943
I dropped them and literally 30 minutes later we were walking into an empty arena and I look up on the stage and there's Ed Van Halen, his brother, alex the drummer, and Wolfgang.

00:36:00.103 --> 00:36:04.402
Oh my God, and incredible, I mean this happened within the course of an hour and a half.

00:36:04.402 --> 00:36:09.141
Underwear, you know, dirty drawers in hand to Ed Van Halen waving going.

00:36:09.181 --> 00:36:10.686
Hey guys, what's going on, you know.

00:36:10.686 --> 00:36:18.478
So I got to go to a Van Halen soundcheck and see just the three Van Halen's playing sing, without David LeRoth because he was back at this time.

00:36:18.478 --> 00:36:29.907
And then, after the soundcheck, ed Van Halen came down, you know, shook, our hands, did the whole thing, and then Wolfgang said hey, you know come, why don't you come back?

00:36:29.907 --> 00:36:35.181
You know, come back in the dressing room and then we'll go to my bus and hang out because they all, of course, you know, they had their own tour buses.

00:36:35.724 --> 00:36:47.137
So, we were back in catering and there's all this amazing food out and I'm standing there and I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn around and it's him.

00:36:47.958 --> 00:36:48.719
It's Eddie Van Henley.

00:36:49.641 --> 00:36:52.768
It's Eddie and he's got a cup of beef erronean in his hand.

00:36:52.768 --> 00:37:00.954
He says you know where the microwave is and I obviously you know.

00:37:00.954 --> 00:37:07.394
I'd like to think in my mind that I said sorry, man, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure, and probably more was like.

00:37:12.005 --> 00:37:13.889
Your 11 year old self comes out.

00:37:14.190 --> 00:37:24.130
Yeah, so that's probably what happened, I'd like to think that the first thing that I described happened, but I still don't know, and it blew my mind because there was all this amazing catering there.

00:37:24.130 --> 00:37:30.844
I mean, obviously he was backstage at a van sure and he, just, he, just wanted a cup of beef on the beef errone.

00:37:31.224 --> 00:37:31.865
That's fantastic.

00:37:33.378 --> 00:37:34.099
He wanted the beef.

00:37:34.099 --> 00:37:35.842
Errone, yeah, I was like this is crazy.

00:37:36.405 --> 00:37:44.121
I grew up on the for only to, so Unfortunately, like I said, we were playing the same night so we did not get to.

00:37:44.121 --> 00:37:45.083
You know, see the show.

00:37:45.083 --> 00:38:00.215
But that you know, I would say, if I had to pick one surreal moment, that would be it, like dirty drawers in hand, to Ed Van Halen tapping me on the shoulder, asking me if I knew where the microwave was so he could heat up his pre-show.

00:38:00.534 --> 00:38:09.719
Great that is an incredible story and I could tell you right now when we write the show description for this episode the Eddie Van Halen beef errone story.

00:38:15.016 --> 00:38:15.599
That was the thing.

00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:20.804
And the other thing is, when we walked in and he was on stage, they were testing the big you know the big video screens on stage.

00:38:20.804 --> 00:38:25.811
He made an off-color joke about that, which again I was like this is great.

00:38:25.811 --> 00:38:30.420
He's an idiot, like us he is.

00:38:30.420 --> 00:38:34.306
He's making off-color jokes about the Jumbotron and he's eating beef.

00:38:34.306 --> 00:38:36.871
Errone, it's amazing awesome, awesome.

00:38:37.576 --> 00:38:45.824
So you know, looking forward from that experience, I imagine You've been working so hard to build up that band.

00:38:45.824 --> 00:38:52.255
Yeah, you had some traction, you had some momentum, and then you needed to make that difficult decision of walking away.

00:38:52.255 --> 00:38:55.063
I mean, how difficult was it to do that?

00:38:55.063 --> 00:38:56.867
What are those emotions?

00:38:56.867 --> 00:38:59.094
And and then what was next?

00:38:59.094 --> 00:39:01.463
Did you have a clear vision for where you were headed?

00:39:02.795 --> 00:39:03.577
So yeah, it was.

00:39:03.577 --> 00:39:04.739
It was definitely very tough.

00:39:04.739 --> 00:39:17.463
It was like basically walking away from a 15 year marriage, you know, because you put all your eggs in this basket and you've just been like laser focused, you know, just sacrificing everything else.

00:39:17.463 --> 00:39:20.795
You know I've had I mean people laugh at me when I say this, but it's true.

00:39:20.795 --> 00:39:22.557
I mean I'm almost 50 years old.

00:39:22.557 --> 00:39:27.789
I've had two real girlfriends in my life and neither one of them was local.

00:39:27.789 --> 00:39:40.021
I've literally never had a relationship with someone in New York or New Jersey, Because for most of my life I was just never in town right, yeah you know, we were just always making records and touring and doing something.

00:39:40.724 --> 00:39:43.028
So there was a lot of sacrifice for those 15 years.

00:39:43.028 --> 00:39:47.786
So it was very difficult but you know, I knew that's what I had to do.

00:39:47.786 --> 00:39:49.375
The plan was to teach.

00:39:49.375 --> 00:39:53.226
You know, the plan was I'm gonna stay back here in the Northeast teach.

00:39:53.226 --> 00:40:03.943
Unfortunately, I have really had no clue how to actually build a successful teaching business at that time, so I really didn't get any students.

00:40:03.943 --> 00:40:07.800
So for about a year, 2015, I was basically miserable here at home.

00:40:08.601 --> 00:40:18.880
And then one of my former band-aids and one of my best friends, louise Espion, who's an amazing bass player down in Nashville, session player, live player, everything.

00:40:18.880 --> 00:40:30.222
He was actually the one I had gotten tight with him when he was in Eve to Adam for about a year and a half and he said you know, he called me one day and he said well, you don't sound good, man, you know what's going on.

00:40:30.222 --> 00:40:32.494
And I said well, you know, I don't know what, I don't know what to do.

00:40:32.494 --> 00:40:34.940
And he said you ever thought about moving to Nashville?

00:40:34.940 --> 00:40:40.094
And I had spent some time in Nashville because Louise, like I said, he was in Nashville.

00:40:40.577 --> 00:40:48.534
So, believe it or not, there was a time when Louise was in the band that when you would have a tour of us to go on a tour, a lot of the depots are in Nashville.

00:40:48.534 --> 00:40:50.914
So, long story short, we used to have a gear in Nashville.

00:40:50.914 --> 00:40:58.916
We found it was actually cheaper to keep the gear in Nashville, fly there and rehearse and then leave From there, as opposed to having the bus drive up to Queens to pick us up, right?

00:40:58.916 --> 00:41:02.271
So I had spent some time in Nashville and I was like I don't know.

00:41:02.271 --> 00:41:03.836
He said man, they're all.

00:41:03.836 --> 00:41:11.643
All the artists are looking for rock guitar players, because every country artist is our age and they all grew up on Guns and Roses and Metallica.

00:41:11.755 --> 00:41:13.788
So they're putting like this heavy rock sound.

00:41:13.807 --> 00:41:14.835
So I was like, okay, I'll give it a try.

00:41:14.835 --> 00:41:22.329
So I went down there, stayed with a friend for a few days and Just ended up really liking it and made the decision.

00:41:22.329 --> 00:41:30.487
You know, within two weeks I put all my stuff in my car, moved down there, I rented a room in a friend's apartment for about six months.

00:41:30.487 --> 00:41:35.628
Then I got my own one bedroom, which was the same place that I left a year ago when I came back up here.

00:41:35.628 --> 00:41:44.478
So I was in the same place, never moved, and you know, I just completely shifted gears and just had to learn, you know, do the cover thing.

00:41:44.478 --> 00:41:46.304
You know, I'd never been in a cover band.

00:41:46.704 --> 00:41:48.268
I did a couple of my first couple of gigs.

00:41:48.268 --> 00:41:53.666
One of the female artists was kind of annoyed with me because I didn't know how to play anything.

00:41:53.666 --> 00:41:57.692
You know, she was like, well, we're gonna play Hong Kong woman by the stones.

00:41:57.692 --> 00:41:59.760
And I was like, okay, I know the song, I don't know how to play it.

00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:04.581
And she was up, if she kind of almost scoffed and she was like, how, how do you know how to play that?

00:42:04.581 --> 00:42:06.440
And then of course I bit my tongue.

00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:09.467
I was like, yeah, sorry, honey, I was in my own band writing my own songs.

00:42:11.514 --> 00:42:17.509
Music shaming you, yeah, which you aspire to do one day yeah, she was totally cover-shaming, cover-shaming.

00:42:18.396 --> 00:42:18.978
Yeah, I had to.

00:42:18.978 --> 00:42:25.545
I had to learn all this music from scratch To do, you know, in the beginning, do some cover stuff with these artists.

00:42:25.545 --> 00:42:29.202
Then I ended up playing with a couple of original country artists, which was amazing.

00:42:29.202 --> 00:42:40.315
A really great friend of mine, a natural, chris Nix Amazing, a tarp killer, let me sub in for him with an artist that he had been playing with because he couldn't do a tour and then that started the ball rolling.

00:42:40.315 --> 00:42:43.945
So I started learning you know original, you know music by country artists.

00:42:43.945 --> 00:42:56.715
I had to switch gears, cater my sound to that a little bit of my playing style and then for the last four years I ended up in a really great pop band that did you know events Like, you know, like corporate events and things like that.

00:42:56.715 --> 00:42:59.585
So again, I had to do learn a lot of originals and pop music.

00:43:00.076 --> 00:43:13.608
So basically, you know, the time in Nashville was Spent basically fish out of water, doing everything that I didn't really do in my teens and early 20s because I was trying to get in my own band and write my own music.

00:43:13.608 --> 00:43:15.682
So it's funny because I actually did it backwards.

00:43:15.682 --> 00:43:21.454
Usually you play in a cover band, then you form an original band and start doing your own music.

00:43:21.454 --> 00:43:23.000
I actually did the opposite.

00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:35.804
I started in an original band and then, when I was 40 and I moved to Nashville, I was like, oh my god, I have to learn 90 songs for next week because I didn't know how to play anything, you know, and I mean it's not, obviously it's not, it was natural.

00:43:35.804 --> 00:43:39.927
It's not like they were gonna play the Metallica songs and Van Halen songs that I knew growing up.

00:43:41.295 --> 00:43:53.485
So it was just, you know, it was just a great, great experience as far as just you know, like I said, just you know, throwing a musician into a brand new pool of water and going, okay, now you have to, now you have to swim.

00:43:53.666 --> 00:43:55.255
Basically, did that help to rejuvenate.

00:43:55.255 --> 00:43:58.998
Let's say you're a creative juices down there as well it did.

00:43:59.097 --> 00:44:12.900
It did because there's a lot of guitar techniques and Sounds and concepts that are kind of, you know, particular to country music, whereas they wouldn't be, maybe, for Rock and blues and heavy metal or whatever you know.

00:44:12.900 --> 00:44:13.963
You know, what do you want to call it?

00:44:13.963 --> 00:44:29.250
That I grew up on and that my band was so yeah, it was definitely inspirational to have the challenge of Going okay, well, I was in my own heavy rock band for 15 years and now I'm gonna learn and artist country songs and I'm gonna have to play him.

00:44:29.250 --> 00:44:37.148
You know, I mean that first subbing gig I was telling you about was With an artist that the very first show I did in national was.

00:44:37.148 --> 00:44:38.954
I think it was April of 2016.

00:44:38.954 --> 00:44:39.878
It was at a.

00:44:39.878 --> 00:44:51.226
It was at a show down in Florida, basically the stadium called country jam, opening for Rascal flats and a couple of other really big country really wow, wow, yeah, so yeah, so it was.

00:44:51.407 --> 00:44:52.170
It was a.

00:44:52.170 --> 00:44:53.655
It was a full-on trial by fire.

00:44:53.655 --> 00:44:57.103
You know of, just like you know, being up there and playing.

00:44:57.103 --> 00:45:04.614
You know you're playing music, You're still playing guitar, You're still playing the same chords and things that you learned when you were 15, but it's a completely different.

00:45:04.614 --> 00:45:06.521
You know, I would imagine it's like a chef.

00:45:06.521 --> 00:45:07.123
You know it's like.

00:45:07.123 --> 00:45:10.375
You know, used to cooking Italian and all of a sudden, okay cook type.

00:45:10.375 --> 00:45:14.963
Yeah sure right, right, still food, but a totally different type of cuisine.

00:45:14.963 --> 00:45:17.268
So it was, yeah, definitely inspirational.

00:45:17.635 --> 00:45:19.862
So I guess, I guess I'll come leave me.

00:45:19.862 --> 00:45:25.585
Leave me on my next question, which is a, do you have a greater appreciation for, for country music?

00:45:25.585 --> 00:45:43.434
And then B, do you find now that there is, let's say, very little difference between genres of music, that now, because, let's say, all these musicians are essentially Contemporaries, now they're all you kind of your age, that basically all this kind of music now is all fused together?

00:45:43.434 --> 00:45:48.385
There's a fusion of music, right, as you said, like like food, that we have fusions in food.

00:45:48.385 --> 00:45:49.467
This fusions in music.

00:45:51.114 --> 00:46:11.643
Absolutely, absolutely as much as I was talking about learning new techniques and sounds for country music, a couple of artists I played for really, really picked me because when they, you know, when they found out about my background, about playing, you know, heavy rock in an original band, they were like, well, you want you to do what you did there, except in this context, you know.

00:46:11.643 --> 00:46:20.755
So that was very interesting too is that a lot of them didn't want me to cater my sound to a quote, unquote country guitar sound like, you know the, the old school kind of twangy kind of thing.

00:46:20.755 --> 00:46:23.342
They wanted like a big, you know, like the.

00:46:23.342 --> 00:46:35.565
The one country artist that one of the guys I played for, he actually said I wanted to sound like slash from Guns N Roses playing in a country band and I was like, okay, well, I can do that, I can look like that too, because when I grow my hair.

00:46:37.577 --> 00:46:38.340
You got a top hat.

00:46:38.340 --> 00:46:38.780
I'm there.

00:46:39.483 --> 00:46:46.338
So yeah, a lot of them wanted that rock sound to be fused with the country sound, just music in general.

00:46:46.338 --> 00:46:54.739
Pop and country and rock is actually getting a lot more simplified these days, especially like radio oriented songs, so Basically modern pop.

00:46:54.739 --> 00:46:57.867
What I found out is basically pop music.

00:46:57.867 --> 00:47:04.639
The difference is, to me, the singing style and Also the lyrical content.

00:47:04.639 --> 00:47:08.927
You know it's still more kind of about, you know, being in the country, in small towns and that kind of thing.

00:47:08.927 --> 00:47:13.775
So the lyrical content and the singing style is still kind of country.

00:47:13.775 --> 00:47:20.418
But the music is kind of, you know, pretty simple pop oriented, kind of colored with country.

00:47:20.418 --> 00:47:28.099
You know a lot of people from Nashville will tell you that too, that, like you know the classic, you know back in the day country artists and Songs.

00:47:28.099 --> 00:47:31.253
You know Dolly Parton, the Red Elin, all that it's very different from.

00:47:31.253 --> 00:47:37.594
You know Taylor Swift and Kelsey Ballerini and what you would consider you know Luke Bryan, any kind of modern country right.

00:47:38.016 --> 00:47:39.402
Yeah, there is a huge fusion.

00:47:40.576 --> 00:47:41.338
You know a music.

00:47:41.338 --> 00:47:42.481
There's a lot of similarities.

00:47:42.481 --> 00:47:44.646
I would say there's more similarities than differences.

00:47:44.646 --> 00:47:50.994
These days, you know, there's even a genre of music that I think they call bro country.

00:47:50.994 --> 00:47:52.963
I don't know if that's a derogatory term.

00:47:52.963 --> 00:47:55.074
It's basically like it sounds a metal country.

00:47:55.876 --> 00:48:03.617
Yeah, it's like heavy metal country basically, where it's like big overdriven guitar sounds like you would find in Metallica, but it's country songs.

00:48:03.617 --> 00:48:16.375
You know, a friend of mine from Nashville just got the gig this year with a country artist in such genre and a Brentley Gilbert, and they're actually opening for Nickelback right now.

00:48:16.375 --> 00:48:24.329
So there's enough of a fusion where Nickelback that's you know, a modern, you know hard rock, heavy rock song or band.

00:48:24.329 --> 00:48:29.434
They actually thought that Brentley Gilbert would totally fit into their show and you know what it does.

00:48:29.434 --> 00:48:38.697
Besides Brentley's singing style and lyrical content, it's basically two heavy metal bands playing, you know.

00:48:38.697 --> 00:48:43.427
So yeah, I mean it's, yeah, it's, it is really, you know, fusing.

00:48:43.427 --> 00:48:46.811
I mean carry underwood is opening for guns and roses these days on certain dates.

00:48:46.811 --> 00:48:47.315
I don't know if you guys.

00:48:47.856 --> 00:48:50.887
Yeah you know, so there's yeah, there's a lot of crossover.

00:48:50.947 --> 00:48:52.715
There's a lot of cross-pollinization.

00:48:52.715 --> 00:48:53.657
Yeah for sure.

00:48:54.019 --> 00:48:55.284
So hate the picture for me.

00:48:55.284 --> 00:48:58.255
You move to Nashville, you're doing all of these gigs.

00:48:58.255 --> 00:49:01.884
I mean, is that, are you supplementing with students?

00:49:01.884 --> 00:49:03.588
I mean, how are you putting food on the table?

00:49:03.588 --> 00:49:05.840
Obviously you're getting this gig here and that gig there.

00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:10.545
I know there's a bunch of musicians out there who are wondering how to piece together career.

00:49:10.545 --> 00:49:16.510
You know you're doing this freelance, you're doing it because you're you're gifted enough and you know how to do it.

00:49:16.510 --> 00:49:18.000
But how are you?

00:49:18.000 --> 00:49:20.969
Obviously you're making connections and one gig leads to another.

00:49:20.969 --> 00:49:22.375
But paint the picture for us.

00:49:22.375 --> 00:49:33.360
How would, how would one go about Playing gigs every night, maybe doing some session work and teaching and other things like that, and kind of piecing the whole thing together so you can have an active career.

00:49:35.295 --> 00:49:38.800
Well for me in the beginning Lyft.

00:49:40.295 --> 00:49:40.556
Yeah.

00:49:41.500 --> 00:49:42.362
I was a lift driver.

00:49:42.483 --> 00:49:42.724
Okay.

00:49:43.835 --> 00:49:53.298
So basically, when I moved to town, I mean I had a little bit of money saved up I was basically driving lift, making connections, taking gigs wherever I could.

00:49:53.298 --> 00:49:54.786
You know the typical thing.

00:49:54.786 --> 00:50:02.748
So basically starting over, you know, that's where I got the gig with the, the female artist I was telling you before that was cover shaming me.

00:50:02.748 --> 00:50:07.195
So I just took anything you know to make a little little bit of money and make connections.

00:50:07.195 --> 00:50:17.666
And then, I think in April of that year I lucked out because my friend, chris, who I referred to before I become good friends with him, he was really welcoming and supportive and he said hey, you know, I play with this artist.

00:50:17.666 --> 00:50:23.242
He's doing a lot of shows over the summer, but I haven't offered from another artist that I want to do.

00:50:23.242 --> 00:50:27.077
So can you, why don't you sub in for my original artist?

00:50:27.077 --> 00:50:29.402
And I said, great, you know.

00:50:29.402 --> 00:50:30.246
So I met with the artist.

00:50:30.246 --> 00:50:31.855
He was kind enough to let me do the gig.

00:50:31.855 --> 00:50:37.541
So I told you know, that was the first artist where I had to learn all his original music, so it wasn't a super busy schedule.

00:50:37.541 --> 00:50:40.789
So it was those gigs and then driving lift.

00:50:40.789 --> 00:50:46.974
And then, you know, slowly but surely, he started getting more gigs and then I started playing with another artist who had a few more gigs.

00:50:46.974 --> 00:50:48.722
Then I started teaching again.

00:50:48.722 --> 00:50:55.394
As far as the session work goes, I never was really able to get into that world.

00:50:55.394 --> 00:51:00.474
You know, there's a lot of great players down there and there's kind of a group of people that do it.

00:51:00.474 --> 00:51:05.125
It's real difficult, for better or worse, to get into that group right, you know, to be let in.

00:51:05.125 --> 00:51:08.978
So that never really materialized for me.

00:51:09.760 --> 00:51:19.166
And then I would say in 2018, when I joined the event band, they were that's when it changed, because not only that, they become very close friends of mine.

00:51:19.166 --> 00:51:20.628
I'm still in touch with all the time.

00:51:20.628 --> 00:51:23.956
They were busy, you know.

00:51:23.956 --> 00:51:29.088
They had just relocated from Miami to Nashville and they wanted to work.

00:51:29.088 --> 00:51:37.684
So we had gigs on lower Broadway, at the honky-tonks, you know well, there was one Venue that would let us play because we weren't a country band.

00:51:37.684 --> 00:51:41.425
So we were playing pop and Latin and R&B and dance music, basically.

00:51:41.425 --> 00:51:44.485
So we were traveling a lot.

00:51:44.686 --> 00:51:51.798
You know, in 2019 I think I spent almost every weekend in Miami because they were from Miami, so they had a lot of contacts.

00:51:51.798 --> 00:51:58.880
You know it's a great band called 30 Vice I'm referring to, and so that's when I didn't have to do lift anymore.

00:51:58.880 --> 00:52:15.920
So, basically, from 2018 until I left last November, that's when I was playing in that band and teaching and that's when my schedule was getting kind of crazy in the opposite way, where it was like I was teaching five days a week and then on the weekends we would be flying or driving somewhere to play.

00:52:15.920 --> 00:52:17.023
So you know, there was.

00:52:17.023 --> 00:52:23.266
There was about I would say, five or six months in 2019 where I didn't have even one day off.

00:52:23.266 --> 00:52:29.373
I'm not complaining, it was a good you were working musician, you had to, you had to do your thing.

00:52:29.393 --> 00:52:29.875
Yeah, yeah.

00:52:30.436 --> 00:52:31.117
Yeah, and that's the thing.

00:52:31.117 --> 00:52:36.601
It's like you know, if you, if you were, if you want to make a living and not doing anything else, that's the working musician gig.

00:52:36.601 --> 00:52:39.063
You better like playing your instrument right.

00:52:39.063 --> 00:52:49.025
You better like setting up your gear, you better like hotels, you better like planes, you better like airports, and you know if you're too attached to pooping in your own bathroom.

00:52:49.025 --> 00:52:49.947
This is not the gig.

00:52:52.396 --> 00:53:00.181
So you were in Nashville, you did that for a few years and then what did you pivot to?

00:53:00.181 --> 00:53:04.548
You know you mentioned you have to love being on the road, love that schedule, etc.

00:53:04.548 --> 00:53:05.436
Etc.

00:53:05.436 --> 00:53:07.523
Do you still love that?

00:53:07.523 --> 00:53:09.148
Did that start to get old?

00:53:09.148 --> 00:53:11.275
Where did your mind and your heart start to go?

00:53:12.478 --> 00:53:13.179
Yes, sir, it did.

00:53:13.179 --> 00:53:14.543
It did that.

00:53:14.543 --> 00:53:16.907
That was kind of what I started figuring out.

00:53:16.907 --> 00:53:22.581
Probably Probably 20 at 19,.

00:53:22.581 --> 00:53:27.117
You know, around the time where it was like six months, where it's like, okay, dude, you should not be coming.

00:53:27.117 --> 00:53:33.644
You know, I'm looking at myself in the mirror going you should not be complaining, you wanted to get paid to play your guitar.

00:53:33.644 --> 00:53:34.670
That's what's happening.

00:53:34.670 --> 00:53:38.519
How dare you, yeah, think any negative thoughts?

00:53:38.519 --> 00:53:45.338
But the other side of my mid 40s body is saying what are you doing?

00:53:46.775 --> 00:53:55.394
You know I can't do this much longer because you also have to remember when, when I was in my band, this wasn't a what we call a weekend warrior thing, right?

00:53:55.394 --> 00:54:01.382
When you're out on a tour in a rock situation opening up for a band or whatever, you're just out at sea for months at a time.

00:54:01.382 --> 00:54:10.701
So don't forget, I had 15 years of Tour buses and bands and planes Already before I even went to Nashville, right.

00:54:10.701 --> 00:54:13.867
So now we're talking those 15 years plus the seven in Nashville.

00:54:13.867 --> 00:54:20.079
So for the last couple of years it was just starting to be like To check into my flight.

00:54:20.079 --> 00:54:21.556
Yeah.

00:54:22.277 --> 00:54:23.661
I'm gonna call my Uber to go, you know.

00:54:23.661 --> 00:54:28.842
And then, if you remember, after COVID, you know the just the airlines, everything was chaos, you know.

00:54:28.842 --> 00:54:31.215
A lot of the workers didn't come back, so it was like flight, you know.

00:54:31.215 --> 00:54:31.938
I mean to this day.

00:54:31.938 --> 00:54:35.753
Every day I wake up, I'm scrolling on Instagram and one of my friends is traps.

00:54:35.773 --> 00:54:38.362
So still a mess, Yep still a mess, you know.

00:54:38.963 --> 00:54:44.019
So for yeah, so for a couple of years it was kind of like okay, I'm starting to not enjoy this as much.

00:54:44.019 --> 00:54:46.746
I love playing, I love my bandmates, they're great friends.

00:54:46.746 --> 00:54:53.509
So it was not, it was not like a person thing, it was just I've been doing this for, you know, two decades now, basically, you know.

00:54:53.509 --> 00:55:00.007
So that's when I started sort of going, okay, well, what's the second half of my life going to be in music?

00:55:00.007 --> 00:55:20.414
So that's when, of course, the teaching thing comes into focus and it's like, okay, well, you know, for the last couple of years in Nashville, I kind of had this plan of I'm gonna build up my students and then it's gonna get to a point where, if I have enough students, I'm gonna be able to cut back on my live work and then I just not have to do my live work anymore.

00:55:20.414 --> 00:55:24.606
So I really lucked out because I timed it pretty well.

00:55:25.086 --> 00:55:30.182
Of course, I was gonna now have to leave another project with friends who I become attached to.

00:55:30.182 --> 00:55:37.490
You know that that I spent so much time with you know we were like family, still are, so I don't want to screw them over.

00:55:37.490 --> 00:55:38.275
So you know, I got to give them notice.

00:55:38.275 --> 00:55:40.391
I'm gonna help them find a replacement for me and do that whole thing.

00:55:40.391 --> 00:55:45.454
So that whole process took about a year and then, luckily, the timing worked out very well.

00:55:45.454 --> 00:55:48.969
Where they found, you know, we found a replacement for me.

00:55:48.969 --> 00:55:50.074
We found a great guy, great player to be in that band.

00:55:50.074 --> 00:55:57.213
They weren't gonna, you know, I didn't want them to have to miss any work or cancel anything, right of me, and they didn't have to.

00:55:57.213 --> 00:56:06.994
Luckily and I'd also luckily All of my in-person students in Nashville agreed to switch to online, because we had already done that for a little bit during the lockdown.

00:56:06.994 --> 00:56:09.483
Oh wow.

00:56:09.623 --> 00:56:10.786
So they were like okay that's fine.

00:56:11.228 --> 00:56:13.034
So I really really lucked out because the timing worked out.

00:56:13.034 --> 00:56:21.463
Where I Quit, I quit the the project I was in, smoothly, with a replacement in place, you know.

00:56:21.463 --> 00:56:23.931
So not not screwing over my friends at all.

00:56:23.931 --> 00:56:37.021
And I went home last year with about 18 students all online, and Then I've built it up to, you know, having I have about 27 people now and three of them do twice a week, so I'm actually doing 30 out.

00:56:37.021 --> 00:56:52.027
You know I'm doing 30 lessons a week At this point so I can maybe take a few more and then I'm gonna, you know, hire more people and then, like I said, you know the next step is YouTube channel and doing a course and you know all that kind of stuff.

00:56:52.027 --> 00:56:57.527
All right, so I guess you kind of you kind of scoop my my next Questions like what is Gorg school of rock supposed to be?

00:57:00.320 --> 00:57:02.514
It's, it's, it's gonna be eventually.

00:57:02.835 --> 00:57:03.538
Basically, it's fun.

00:57:03.538 --> 00:57:04.161
You say school of rock?

00:57:04.161 --> 00:57:05.586
Yeah, exactly that, you know.

00:57:05.586 --> 00:57:13.494
Basically, it would be great to have a, you know, a school that has an actual brick-and-mortar location, as well as in person and online.

00:57:13.494 --> 00:57:24.762
Right now I'm only doing online, but you know, as far as like being able to, you know, do, like what school of rock does, you know, make bands with the students and you know, do performances and all that.

00:57:24.762 --> 00:57:30.364
That's the dream, you know, that's the goal, I mean, that's I'm in the infancy of that, but that's the, you know, that's the plan.

00:57:30.364 --> 00:57:37.559
But like again, lucky for me, I have, you know, I have almost 30 students and Basically, you know, I'm doing it.

00:57:37.579 --> 00:57:38.081
You know, from home.

00:57:38.081 --> 00:57:46.329
Literally, I'm sitting in the room right now where I teach and it's, you know, it's a great thing because when you do it online, you don't.

00:57:46.329 --> 00:57:54.583
You don't have to worry about weather, you don't have to worry about if you're a little bit sick, you can still do the lesson.

00:57:54.583 --> 00:58:00.940
It opens up my schedule because I'm not telling people hey, sorry, you know I can't do such in such a day in time Because I'm gonna be driving from one lesson to the other, you know.

00:58:00.940 --> 00:58:02.204
So there's just a lot of.

00:58:02.204 --> 00:58:07.248
You know there's a lot of advantages to doing it that way.

00:58:07.248 --> 00:58:12.846
So, yeah, I mean, that's that's really the you know.

00:58:12.846 --> 00:58:16.233
Like I said, the next step is the school and in person, online brick and mortar.

00:58:16.233 --> 00:58:21.307
Hopefully, you know my, basically my YouTube channel.

00:58:21.307 --> 00:58:26.826
I'm gonna start posting soon and that's gonna be kind of the you know Research for lack of a better term on what my guitar course is gonna be right.

00:58:26.826 --> 00:58:32.744
All right, so I gotta ask so then you?

00:58:32.764 --> 00:58:33.025
know the show.

00:58:33.045 --> 00:58:34.771
This show is all about advice.

00:58:34.791 --> 00:58:38.746
Right, the show is all about Advice for those who want to try to get into the line of work.

00:58:38.746 --> 00:58:46.092
Right, and you've painted a pretty good picture, right Is that You've got to really put your mind, your, your heart and soul into it and understand that there are sacrifices to be made.

00:58:46.092 --> 00:59:05.400
So if you have one piece of paper Advice that you want to give to someone out there who says I want to be a musician, no matter what, my entire being, everything, everything, I'm gonna put everything into it to be a musician, what is that one piece of advice you you have to tell them to say To what?

00:59:05.400 --> 00:59:05.722
To assume?

00:59:05.722 --> 00:59:09.353
To be starving artist out there who wants to follow that path and be a working musician.

00:59:09.353 --> 00:59:14.371
If I had to blow it down to one, thing it would be.

00:59:14.411 --> 00:59:28.510
You cannot do it for the money, or you can just go to the music studio, and you can just go to the music studio, or for fame, or anything else than the fact that you cannot picture yourself doing anything else day to day.

00:59:28.510 --> 00:59:32.958
Because About what I mean?

00:59:32.958 --> 00:59:35.704
How many people would you say want to be professional musicians?

00:59:35.704 --> 00:59:38.559
In the hundreds of thousands, maybe millions?

00:59:38.559 --> 00:59:41.045
I would say millions, yeah, in them, in the millions.

00:59:41.045 --> 00:59:49.826
It's first and foremost the the ground level goal that you have to be happy with is Making a living as a musician.

00:59:49.826 --> 00:59:53.597
Anything after that is Basically a bonus.

00:59:54.338 --> 01:00:00.077
You know, and I've had so many of my friends experience that, because there's so many highs and lows, you know the.

01:00:00.077 --> 01:00:09.561
You know the night that I got to take my dad up on the stage at Mohegan Sun Arena and look at an empty arena, you know I was on top of the world.

01:00:09.561 --> 01:00:13.074
You know it was like, wow, this is amazing, this is only gonna go up.

01:00:13.074 --> 01:00:16.846
I've made it up on my way and then next thing, you know, I'm in Nashville.

01:00:16.846 --> 01:00:22.775
You know, trying to find where the Grand Ole Opry is, to take a tourist to a show there from the airport.

01:00:23.235 --> 01:00:30.184
Yeah you know there's a lot of ups and downs and so you have to, you know, just be realistic and know what you're getting into.

01:00:30.184 --> 01:00:32.293
I would say that's the main thing know what you're getting into.

01:00:32.293 --> 01:00:34.802
Know that it's gonna be, like you said, a lot of sacrifices.

01:00:34.802 --> 01:00:38.514
You're gonna sacrifice Family events, like I did for two decades.

01:00:38.514 --> 01:00:48.898
You're gonna sacrifice relationships, like I said, I've literally had two relationships, never with someone in New York, and it's virtually impossible.

01:00:48.898 --> 01:00:50.882
Maybe it'll happen now, you know, by some strut.

01:00:50.882 --> 01:00:53.568
You know now that I'm actually stationary in one place.

01:00:53.568 --> 01:01:08.974
But I would say you just have to know what you're getting into and it's got to be Because you love music so much that you literally cannot picture yourself doing anything else and you're okay with paying your bills and playing music every day.

01:01:08.974 --> 01:01:10.780
You've got, you've got to be okay with that.

01:01:10.780 --> 01:01:20.186
If that, to you, is failure, then you're going in with, my opinion, the wrong attitude, because even that's hard, that's it's very hard to even just make a living only doing music.

01:01:20.795 --> 01:01:22.480
Does the road still call to you at some times?

01:01:22.480 --> 01:01:25.246
Do you ever feel that pain, that, that that pain to go back on the road?

01:01:25.246 --> 01:01:26.458
Not yet.

01:01:29.257 --> 01:01:40.304
Not yet I'm, I am Completely thrilled to be sleeping in my scent, my own bed, using my own bathroom, every day, going to family events, going into New York City.

01:01:40.304 --> 01:01:43.161
It's just I.

01:01:43.161 --> 01:01:53.523
I mean, you know, it's one of those things where, like you, look back in the last 20 years, your life, and you just you know, like, oh wow, I haven't been able to, I really haven't been able to do this this century.

01:01:53.523 --> 01:01:55.527
You know, I joined that band.

01:01:55.527 --> 01:02:05.375
Basically we were up and running and out the door on the road, hustling, let's say, 2000, right, and I just really got back to town last november.

01:02:06.025 --> 01:02:24.407
Man, oh man, so incredible my entire adult life was some sort of either writing or recording or traveling, and then, of course, when I was living in national for those seven years, maybe visiting home once every couple, you know, twice a year or so, missing out on so much stuff.

01:02:24.407 --> 01:02:27.590
So what will I miss it at some point?

01:02:27.590 --> 01:02:28.271
I'm sure I will.

01:02:28.271 --> 01:02:55.141
I think the other kind of long term dream goal is that if I can get all these business you know, all these other businesses that I'm so excited about up and running, I can maybe step back a little bit, you know from, maybe only keep a certain amount of serious students and maybe do my own original project again, you know, because definitely the answer to your question about the road am I getting that bug yet?

01:02:55.141 --> 01:03:07.639
No, but am I getting the bug to start another rock project and write some amazing songs hopefully some amazing people and record them and put them out into the universe?

01:03:07.639 --> 01:03:09.721
The answer to that question is yes.

01:03:10.344 --> 01:03:20.106
Well, go for, for those people from the road who might miss you, or people from nashville who might miss you, or those people who would like to Meet you for the first time.

01:03:20.106 --> 01:03:21.248
How do they find you?

01:03:21.708 --> 01:03:25.172
what my teaching site is all the music lessons dot com.

01:03:25.172 --> 01:03:27.757
My heart is garr of bali dot com.

01:03:27.757 --> 01:03:33.570
G a, u, r, a v b a l I dot com and, of course, instagram.

01:03:33.570 --> 01:03:43.335
My teaching instagram is all in music lessons, and hopefully I mean garbally, you know I'm gonna start doing more.

01:03:43.335 --> 01:03:44.217
First youtube goes.

01:03:44.217 --> 01:03:48.974
You know I'm finally gonna make time to start really.

01:03:48.974 --> 01:03:55.271
You know diving head first of that as well, you know, very soon well, I know I can't wait to see it.

01:03:55.331 --> 01:03:58.717
I'm sure larry and to share feel exactly the same way.

01:03:58.717 --> 01:04:03.150
And, gaurav, this is really been a remarkable conversation.

01:04:03.150 --> 01:04:21.773
It's, it's very inspiring hearing from somebody who is an artist, who gave everything to their craft and and followed it through and is, you know, had the opportunity to gain perspective, real life experience and turn all of that Into something special that that might be, you know, a little bit different.

01:04:21.773 --> 01:04:24.659
So, gaurav, thank you so much for joining us today.

01:04:25.246 --> 01:04:26.050
Thank you guys so much.

01:04:26.050 --> 01:04:26.612
It was a blast.

01:04:27.226 --> 01:04:31.273
Well, first off to share, thank you for bringing your friend to us.

01:04:31.273 --> 01:04:33.778
That was a great conversation.

01:04:33.778 --> 01:04:45.309
You know, I think larry, maybe as the professional musician, is somebody who gave a big part of their own lives to music, you are the ideal person to reflect on this.

01:04:45.389 --> 01:04:51.380
Coming out of that, that incredible story yeah, it was an incredible story and you can see the dedication.

01:04:51.380 --> 01:04:54.434
You know that he gave this his his whole life.

01:04:54.434 --> 01:05:07.237
You know it's interesting when you hear an artist talk about being inspired at a young age and making the decision that they were going to play their instrument, become a professional musician, and they follow through with it.

01:05:07.237 --> 01:05:12.931
They see through it because you know a lot of musicians, as he talked about, lose interest.

01:05:12.931 --> 01:05:38.436
You better love to shred day after day after day, because If you don't love your instrument, if you don't love the travel, if you don't love the gig, in the hard work, the piece and together a schedule piece and together A career which is exactly what he did in a really intelligent way Then you're not going to make it, because it takes a lot of perseverance and dedication and his stories truly inspiring.

01:05:38.815 --> 01:06:08.257
I'm thrilled that we had a chance to talk to him today about it and I do think that the biggest, the other biggest thing I take from this is there's a real, there's a real benefit to teaching in addition to playing, because you learn as much as a teacher showing somebody else how to do something, and you know we talked about it being a gift, but it's a gift to yourself and it's a gift to the person that you're teaching and it's a great way to supplement your entire profession.

01:06:08.257 --> 01:06:12.487
So, musicians out there, any artist, don't just work on your craft.

01:06:12.487 --> 01:06:19.818
Teach others how to how to do it too, because it's rewarding, it's educational and I loved, I love this story.

01:06:19.818 --> 01:06:21.059
It was just really inspiring.

01:06:21.666 --> 01:06:23.871
I agree, and is a music fan.

01:06:23.871 --> 01:06:27.186
It certainly deeply connected with me and you know it.

01:06:27.186 --> 01:06:32.034
Typically we would go to to share next to it the cycle that we have established over time.

01:06:32.034 --> 01:06:35.447
But you know I'm jumping in here because I'm also a teacher.

01:06:35.447 --> 01:06:52.239
You know I have become a college professor teaching media technology, story writing and those are the things that I did throughout my career and I'm starting to take a little while but starting to really enjoy what I'm doing in making those connections and having those conversations.

01:06:52.278 --> 01:07:12.646
So that really connected with me because I'm feeling it myself oddly enough, when I was in high school I did a program called summer music for a bag at burger high school and there just came a point where I I stopped kind of playing my instrument but what I continue to do with it was Teach the kids.

01:07:12.646 --> 01:07:16.896
I continue to teach all the lower grades because that was what I really enjoyed doing.

01:07:16.896 --> 01:07:23.112
Right, so I would, I would, I would stop trying to get awards and just decided I wanted to teach.

01:07:23.112 --> 01:07:26.697
I was really good, I was an all county player, I was like a.

01:07:26.697 --> 01:07:29.907
I was, I was like a, an alternate for all state.

01:07:29.907 --> 01:07:34.375
But I decided I no longer cared about getting awards and accolades.

01:07:34.375 --> 01:07:37.079
My reward was teaching these kids how to play.

01:07:38.005 --> 01:07:39.447
You need to break out that instrument.

01:07:39.447 --> 01:07:43.434
We need to hear some tea daddy to right now.

01:07:43.434 --> 01:07:50.831
I want to hear that horn and Come on, well, jam, I'll break out my drum set.

01:07:50.831 --> 01:07:52.016
You can get the horns go.

01:07:52.016 --> 01:07:54.731
And Samuels, you know I'm alone show season three.

01:07:57.465 --> 01:08:01.114
But you know, but, but that's, but that's what gore is talking about.

01:08:01.114 --> 01:08:12.750
There is that you know, it's the, it's, it's kind of in the name of his, of his, of his handles, right, all in all, in all in music, all in music lessons, right, you have to sell out, you have to go all in it.

01:08:12.750 --> 01:08:13.771
This is your life.

01:08:13.771 --> 01:08:16.194
Yes, you want to have a relationship with someone.

01:08:16.194 --> 01:08:19.319
They have to understand the instrument comes first.

01:08:19.319 --> 01:08:21.650
That is what is always going to be.

01:08:21.650 --> 01:08:28.974
And if they can't, if they can't figure that out, it's tough because you're gonna have a lonely life in some sense.

01:08:28.974 --> 01:08:30.936
You gotta, and you have to come to terms with that.

01:08:30.936 --> 01:08:34.490
You and your and the person you're with have to come to terms with that.

01:08:34.490 --> 01:08:42.307
And if you can deal with that and they can deal with that, well then You're gonna be, you're, you're probably gonna go a long way and if not, you're gonna be on the road a lot.

01:08:42.307 --> 01:08:49.167
You're gonna be, you know, giggin for a long time and you gotta figure it out because man oh man be for only yeah, it's gonna be be for only

01:08:49.506 --> 01:08:51.088
and ask and strangers with a microwave.

01:08:51.088 --> 01:08:51.590
Is that for?

01:08:51.609 --> 01:08:54.993
sure, larry Shay, you stole my joke.

01:08:54.993 --> 01:08:58.398
That's exactly where I was headed to close out this program.

01:08:58.398 --> 01:09:08.154
I was gonna say something along the lines of and we have to find those magic moments such as Eddie Maddalen eating be for only so.

01:09:08.154 --> 01:09:10.515
Anyway, with that, go rafbali.

01:09:10.515 --> 01:09:14.301
Thank you so much for joining this episode of no wrong choices.

01:09:14.301 --> 01:09:15.948
We also thank you for joining us.

01:09:16.189 --> 01:09:33.541
If this or another journey story inspired you to think of a friend who could be a great guest, please let us know by sending us a note by the contact page of no wrong choices dot com, as I mentioned off the top, please support us by following no wrong choices on your favorite podcasting platform, while giving us a five star rating.

01:09:33.541 --> 01:09:44.833
And then, last but not least, we encourage you to join the no wrong choices community by connecting with us on linkedin, facebook, instagram threads and X by searching for no wrong choices.

01:09:44.833 --> 01:09:48.716
On behalf of two share Saxena and Larry Shay, I'm Larry Samuels.

01:09:48.716 --> 01:09:52.520
Thank you again for joining us and remember there are no wrong choices.

01:09:52.520 --> 01:09:55.942
On the road to success, we learn from every experience.